R Squared Ltd Acquires Shares of 170 Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 170 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Waters by 69.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,012 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,900 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,743,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 96.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 868 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth $605,000. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 7.0% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,092 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,352,000 after buying an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WAT. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on shares of Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Waters from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Waters in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $430.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $384.71.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $415.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $386.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $358.09. Waters Co. has a 12 month low of $279.24 and a 12 month high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $740.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $712.99 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

Waters Profile

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.